Lost Generation

PART 2

PART 3

This experience made me feel resigned, depressed, hopeless, and then suddenly reversed it all so that I was amazed, empowered, and hopeful. It made me feel like everything is possible, and no matter what the situation, we can always change it if we have the will to do so.

PART 4

I found this experience compelling because the interaction with the user is not interactive in the traditional sense, but rather an interaction with emotions. In this way, the output of the presentation is constant, but the interpretation of it will vary greatly between viewers.

It is a clever yet simple construction of words and phrases that can be read forwards and backwards and both ways makes complete sense. Not only does it make complete sense, but also makes a profound argument that leaves the viewer both motivated and hopeful.

I think one of the aspects that makes this experience so powerful is that the words are very common, understandable by all, but with deep meaning. Thus, it is simple, applying the principle of Ockham’s Razor, as opposed to using more complex language. This, along with the various delivery methods used (on screen text, read aloud, visual cues of reversal, voice intonations, etc.), make the experience accessible to a wider audience.

Clear voice, legible font faces, uncluttered black background, voice emphasis, pace of reading & scroll text, and colour choices give a clean design feel, all contributing to the aesthetic usability of the presentation. If a presentation is not visually appealing, most times, I will not share it with others, and so the number of views here, may be a good indication of the usability of the video. Are people viewing it often and sharing it with friends? How does it compare to other videos which are not as visually appealing? This video was posted in 2007 and has over 15 million views! Another version of the same poem posted in 2009 has only around 80,000.

In this case, “performance” is not exactly a metric to be measured in the same way a keyboard might be (i.e. Dvorak vs. Qwerty). Reading or scrolling the text faster may get the message across quicker, but viewers require information to be relayed at a certain pace for it to reach them effectively, thus demonstrating that preference is more useful than performance. Making the text smaller to display more on the screen may provide more information at once, but will it be too overwhelming for a user to read if they see how long it is at the beginning? Will they pay as much attention? My guess would be no.